Steve Reich has released a Clapping Music app. It’s based on his 1972 composition Clapping Music, which involves two performers clapping a constantly shifting rhythmic pattern. The app teaches the user to play the piece by tapping along to the composition on screen.

Only available to iOS users, the app also includes educational videos looking at the compositional technique in Clapping Music and Electric Counterpoint. Those users who get really good at it can enter a competition to perform live with London Sinfonietta’s percussionists. More information here.

A new film about Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo is set to be released this December. Directed by Arnaud Maguet and produced by the French group Hifiklub, In Doubt, Shadow Him! was shot in New York and sees contributions from an assortment of musicians and artists including Dan Graham, Phill Niblock, John Giorno, Don Fleming, Ikue Mori, Nels Cline, Alan Licht and more. The film features an original soundtrack recorded by Ranaldo and Hifiklub at the Sonic Youth studio. For Hifiklub and Maguet, In Doubt, Shadow Him! is a follow-up to their 2012 docufilm collaboration with R Stevie Moore, I Am A Genius (And There's Nothing I Can Do About It).

Sound artist Davide Tidoni will be hosting a four day sound workshop in Presegno, Italy. Called Up In The Valley, it takes place in the mountains surrounding Sabbia Valley. A maximum of seven participants will take part in a series of activities exploring sound in relation to physicality, listening and intervention, with items on the agenda including investigations into distance, density, white noise and thresholds of audibility.

Up In The Valley runs between 3–6 August. More information can be found here.

Jeff Mills has announced that the sequel to his 2004 film Exhibitionist will be released in September. Called Exhibitionist 2, it promises to examine the real-time thought processes involved in the spontaneous creation of a DJ set via close-up and multi-angle shots of Mills at work. It also features him rocking some beats on Roland TR-909 drum machine.

The film has already been trailed by the release of an EP entitled Exhibitionist 2: Part One. Parts two (a mix with drummer Skeeto Valdez) and three (featuring some TR909 solo sessions) will follow in September and November respectively. More information can be found here.

Japanese musician and producer Susumu Yokota died on 27 March following a long period of illness. His death was announced by his family this week. He was 54 years old.

Yokota was an economist turned artist, techno DJ and musician. He began releasing music in the early 1990s, and was well known as a DJ, developing a sound that was part techno and part jazzy house, before he moved into producing ambient electronic music. He released several ambient electronic records, some of which became house music staples, Sakura and Grinning Cat included.

Either under his own name or pseudonyms like 246, Yokota released many records during his prolific career on labels like Leaf, Lo Recordings, Reel Music, Sublime, and his own Skintone imprint. Dreamer, his last record, was released by Lo in 2012.

Read the original Sublime Records post here, and a post from LEAF here.

The University Of Leeds and The Science Museum has put out an open call for papers to be presented at a conference on alternative histories of electronic music in April next year. The conference is part of an AHRC funded project exploring the work of musician and musicologist Hugh Davies. Submissions are open to all disciplines, but the organisers have a particular interest in papers on electroacoustic music, science and technology, and talks that deviate from the established narrative of the development of electronic music.

The deadline for submissions is 31 October. They should be about 500 words in length and emailed, along with a 100 word author bio, to ahem@leeds.ac.uk. The conference will take place between 15-16 April next year, and the journal Organised Sound is planning a themed issue to coincide with it. A template for submissions and more information on areas of interest can be found here.

On-U Sound have released their full back catalogue to download, containing over 70 albums from the label's archive. Founded in 1979 by producer Adrian Sherwood, On-U Sound has released records by artists including Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Tackhead, African Head Charge, New Age Steppers, Singers & Players, Mark Stewart and Bim Sherman, with the back catalogue including out of print albums and label compilations, as well alternative mixes and previously unreleased material.

Inspiration for the crate-digging came from one of the resident DJs at Sherwood's beach raves at the Shantytown venue in Ramsgate, who, during a visit to Sherwood's house, discovered a collection of old quarter-inch reels. The On-U Sound label manager explains: "In the early days of On-U, Adrian would work at a furious pace in the studio, staying up for days on end to work on music. The result being that some astonishing alternate mixes, dubs and completely unreleased tracks have been found."

As well as the downloads, On-U Sound are also in the process of pressing some of the labels most popular records to vinyl, with reissues coming from artists including Singers & Players, Creation Rebel and The Missing Brazilians.

A full list of releases can be found here

A new network has been set up in Yorkshire for women working in sound and music. Called Yorkshire Sound Women Network, it has been established as a community for women to share knowledge, skills and ideas in technology, sonic arts, production and audio electronics. It will also encourage members to explore and experiment with new technologies and equipment.

Initiated by Liz Dobson, music technology lecturer at The University Of Huddersfield, the Yorkshire network follows on from an informal knowledge exchange that she set up in Berlin in January called the EQ network. “This is to be a community of practice where learning happens through teaching and mentoring as much as it does through being mentored,” says Dobson, adding, “Women means all women. Trans women and underrepresented genders.

“My personal hope,” she continues, “is that by making a really relaxed knowledge exchange for women, we create a community that can provide a meaningful bridge for women and ultimately girls to engage with technologies unselfconsciously in their work. With the confidence this can offer I hope this helps to normalise the balance and representation of women across our music industries."

The first meeting will take place at QI Gaming on 14 July, 7pm start. More information can be found here.

Kinokophonography is a curated sound cinema event which explores the experience of listening and sharing sound recordings from across the globe. Returning to Manchester this October, it is currently looking for submissions from field recordists, phonographers and artists. Submissions should be no longer than three minutes and be framed around the theme of objects. The deadline for submissions is 11 August. More information can be found here.

Kinokophonography will take place at The Whitworth, Manchester, on 8 October.

Artist, beekeeper and Coil affiliate Ian Johnstone died at his home in Spain on 30 June. He was 47 years old. His death was caused by a recurring bronchial infection that had previously seen him hospitalised. Johnstone was the former partner of the late John Balance and regularly collaborated with Coil, having made numerous costumes for the group as well as the artwork for Coil albums including Black Antlers and the Racing Green box edition of The Ape Of Naples.

Born in Cumbria, UK, on 2 September 1967, Johnstone studied fine art at Middlesex University where he developed his Mr Todd alias – a performance character that would appear throughout his career. Johnstone also collaborated with Dan O’Sullivan, participating in his Mothlite and Ulver projects. In the latterJohnstone performed Mr Todd’s levitation piece and The Leg Cutter at the Norwegian National Opera house. Talking of Johnstone, O’Sullivan says:

“He was a master craftsman, discerning to the finest detail, humble and kind, self-critical and irreverent, in love with nature, at war with the capitalist patriarchy. A good animal, true to his animal instincts.”

In the last few years Johnstone spent his time in the Asturian mountains working on Cantu Fermusu, an agroforestry, farming and gardening project with Mikel Quirós.